A to Z of Promo (Part 1)

Products with antimicrobial coatings were developed some years back but saw a resurgence during covid times. We offer Travel Mugs and Water Bottles, Pens and Notebooks (and more) with this bug-busting addition. As we approach Winter, items with this special coating can help keep the outer surfaces clean and help reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Merchandise like this is perfect for healthcare and educational sectors, and, of course, is ideal for any organisation that wants to add ‘another preventative tool’ to its staff well-being and germ reduction measures.

Like ‘hoovering’ is synonymous with vacuum cleaners, for me (and, I guess many others) BIC goes hand in hand with Pens! I’m sure there is a statistic somewhere that the classic BIC Cristal Pen (the one everyone had at school, still has on their desk and has a few of in all their kitchen drawers) is a recognisable as a can of Coke in all countries around the world. Anyway, that’s an aside. Back in the land of promo, BIC continue to deliver new styles and spin-offs of their ever popular styles such as their Cristal / Style Pen and their iconic BIC 4 Colour Pens. They’re also making great inroads utilising ‘eco-friendly materials’ and their Evolution Pencil range is part-made from recycled fridges and yoghurt pots, whilst their Eco-Media Clic is made from scraps of plastic car parts.

Whilst we sometimes promote products as available ‘in a choice of classic colours’ a simple way of saying they only come in Black, Navy and Red (oh, ok and perhaps Silver) thankfully, that is not always the case! Plenty of every-day essentials come in a wonderful, colour-FULL palette of colour options. Our Oriole Drawstring Bags come in 16 colours, whilst the best-selling A5 Soft Touch Notebook comes in 18 colours, plus there are some Pastel shades too!  We also have many Water Bottles with superb colour ranges, one certainly worth a mention is the Ashford Vacuum Insulated Bottle these 500ml metal bottles offer superb temperature control (hot drinks stay warm for 12 hours!) and come in 3 finishes, my fave finish is the Matt look, that said, I eagerly await the new glossy finish – called Shine that’s due in September.

Debossing is a discreet, super-popular branding technique that’s primarily used on Notebooks. Debossing leaves an outline of your logo on, for example, the cover of a notebook or diary. To recreate your logo a heated metal plate is pushed into the surface of the product and when it is lifted away it leaves behind a recessed (debossed) impression. If you hear the term EMbossing, that’s when a metal plate is pushed (from often) the underside/inside of an item upwards, your logo feels raised rather than indented as with debossing.

I think most people can visualise an engraved logo on a metal pen or on a drinkware item like a Travel Mug or a Water Bottle. However, engraving is about to take another leap forward and we’re now starting to see jumbo-sized engraving being offered – watch this space!  Another great thing about engraving is that typically the minimum order quantity is lower than on some printed items making it perfect for organisations of all sizes, or special one-off projects.